Counter-Terrorism Bill

moved Amendment No. 5: 5: After Clause 22, insert the following new Clause— ““Independent Commissioner for Terrorist Suspects Independent Commissioner for Terrorist Suspects (1) The Secretary of State shall appoint a person to be known as the Independent Commissioner for Terrorist Suspects (the ““Commissioner””) and such appointment shall be subject to the approval of the Lord Chief Justice, and shall be on such terms as to length of service and remuneration as the Secretary of State shall determine. (2) The principal function of the Commissioner shall be to monitor the detention and treatment of terrorist suspects held under section 41 and Schedule 8 to the Terrorism Act 2000 (c. 11). (3) In order to fulfil his functions under this section, the Commissioner shall be entitled to visit Paddington Green Police Station, and any other place of detention where terrorist suspects are held, so as to ensure that the questioning of suspects is being carried out diligently and expeditiously, and in accordance with the provisions of Schedule 8 and PACE Code H. (4) Such visits shall take place at the discretion of the Commissioner and may be unannounced. (5) The custody officer shall inform the Commissioner within 24 hours of a terrorist suspect being detained. (6) The police shall give the Commissioner such assistance as he may reasonably require so that he can fulfil his functions under this section. (7) The Commissioner shall be entitled to interview terrorist suspects with their consent, and may require such interviews to take place in the absence of the police and he may also attend interviews conducted by the police. (8) The custody officer shall inform the Commissioner whenever the police are to make an application for the extension of the period of detention and the Commissioner shall be entitled to be present at the hearing before the judicial authority in order to give him such assistance as he may require. (9) The Commissioner shall make an annual report to Parliament as to the carrying out of his functions under this section.”” The noble and learned Lord said: My Lords, I expect the House will know that if the police wish to detain a terrorist suspect for more than seven days, they must make an application to the judge, or the judicial authority as he is called in Schedule 8 to the Terrorism Act 2000. If the judge is satisfied that the police are getting on with the investigation in the way that they should, he may extend the time from seven to 14 days and thereafter from 14 to 21 days and ultimately to 28 days. That is fine as far as it goes; it is the judge who decides. However, there is a weakness in the system because the judge has very little to go on other than what the police tell him. No doubt the police will explain the difficulties that they are facing and say that they are getting on as fast as they can, but there is no way at present in which the judge can verify what he is being told. The object of the amendment is simply to fill that gap. It may seem a small gap, but I suggest that it is a serious and important one. There are a number of reasons for that. It is a fact that in terrorist cases a far higher proportion of suspects are released without charge than in other criminal cases. One wants to know why that is and what the reasons could be, and one wants to keep a watch on that. Even in cases where suspects are ultimately charged, up to a week will often go by before anything incriminating is put to them at all. During all that time they are left in doubt about why they have been arrested. There is anecdotal evidence that in the airline case, known as Operation Overt, there was sufficient evidence in relation to two of the suspects, who were charged only after 28 days, to charge them after 14 days, which is when, if that is true, they should have been charged. So there is indeed a job for an independent commissioner to do. Before continuing, I should apologise for not having tabled an amendment to this effect in Committee, although I mentioned it at that stage. However, I do not think that the amendment will come as a surprise to the noble Lord, Lord West, because I mentioned it to him as long ago as last summer, or even perhaps the summer before—it is difficult to remember how these things proceed—when the Home Office was looking for material to put into its new terrorism Bill. Indeed, I raised it in the House and the then Leader of the House said that it was just the sort of idea that the Government were looking for. That is perhaps not a lot to be going on but it is at least something. The virtue of the amendment is that it is based on something that has already been tried and tested in Northern Ireland. In 1992, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mayhew, who was then Secretary of State, appointed Sir Louis Blom-Cooper to be the first independent commissioner for the holding centres in Northern Ireland. The holding centres were places such as Castlereagh, where terrorist suspects were then detained. Of course, there were differences in Northern Ireland, but everyone agrees that that appointment was a great success and that it actually worked. It continued year after year until after the Labour Government had taken office in 1997. The amendment is based almost word for word on Sir Louis Blom-Cooper’s terms of reference, but there are some important additions, which have been suggested by Professor Clive Walker of the University of Leeds, who is the leading academic authority on terrorism. Indeed, as long ago as 1998, he suggested extending the jurisdiction of the independent commissioner for the holding centres to England and Scotland. Incidentally, he also pointed out that there has been a commissioner for detainees in South Africa since 1982, so there is good precedent for what I am proposing.